A valuable heart
by Marcman
Summary: Rouge makes her base in Chris's mansion and uses him as a resource for money, food, and shelter. But she starts to realize that she's also found a good friend who's irreplaceable. Warning: hints of RougeXChris


A valuable heart

Author: Marcman2020

Pairing: Rouge X Chris

(Authors note: This fic does not take place in actual Sonic X Continuity, though it borrows a few elements from it. It takes place in an alternate reality in which Chris lives in Sonic's world AND retains his wealth. Also, this fic is not using the whiney clingy Chris from the first half of Sonic X, but rather the more mature Chris from the Meterex saga who is an adult in his mind despite being in a kid's body)

The sky was a dark shade of indigo filled with a sprinkle of stars which surrounded the moon. As many slept, others were wide awake to partake in the thrills that took place when the sun had gone away as if they were creatures of the night. While many others were at casinos, parties, and other such events having a good time, one young aristocrat was busy in his room waiting and worried. He sat in bed unable to sleep, and only being able to look down at the light which came through his window and landed on his floor and covers.

Suddenly, a shadow came onto his window and blocked the moonlight. He looked toward the window and saw a familiar curvy bat winged silhouette tapping on the glass lightly. He sighed in relief and got up, running toward the window in his light blue Pajama's opening it. The silhouette folded up her wings and jumped in elegantly onto the floor with a sexy smirk on the side of her face. It seemed it was none other than Rouge the bat, having some reason decided to crash at Chris Thorndyke's mansion.

"Where were you? You're more late than usual!"

"Oh, worried weren't we? You honestly didn't think someone as skilled as me would get caught, now did you? How cute..." She said, looking toward him and batting her eye lashes. Chris slightly blushed.

"What happened anyway? Did you get into any trouble? Are you hurt?" He asked. Rouge just chuckled.

"Of course not, I just decided to make a few pit stops on my way back" She said while reaching into a fanny back she had on and pulling out some sparkling diamonds and pearls. She was out doing her favorite nightly activity: stealing jewels. It seemed she had also stolen from more than one area tonight instead of just going to one place and then coming back, which explained why she was late.

"Aren't they just lovely?" She added. Chris sighed.

"I don't really understand why you're always stealing... it's wrong you know... I could just easily buy you some gems if you wanted..."

"Oh Chris, that's sweet of you, but it just wouldn't be fun...Where's the thrill in just getting them like that? By sneaking around and stealing, it gives me such a rush that feels so rewarding in the end... You can say it's a hobby of mine"

"But what'll you do if you get caught?"

"You know I'd never let that happen... I'm just too experienced to make such a rookie mistake like that" Rouge said with a smug smirk.

"Oh? Then what about what happened awhile ago when you got caught HERE?" asked Chris.

He was referring to an incident that happened over a month ago, in which Tails had designed a special security system for Chris's mansion so that way he could feel safer. To test it out, Tails had purposely talked about Chris's "Family Jewels" with Sonic and Amy, while Rouge happened to be near by listening with her curiosity growing. So that night, she snuck into Chris's mansion.

Tails had set up everything up ingeniously, he'd make it seem easy, causing her to underestimate it. When her guard was down she'd be captured with her love for jewels used against her... he had succeeded in doing what even maximum security museums and booby trapped temples had failed at doing...capturing Rouge...Chris then entered the chamber, thinking at first it was either Eggman or one of his robots that had gotten in... But then he saw it was Rouge and released her.

Chris was going to call Tails to tell him that the security system was a success; But Rouge didn't like the idea of letting people know she had been caught... It would surely damage her reputation as a master jewel thief. She called Chris over and cutely flirted with him to get him to his attention, and then sweet talked him into not telling Tails or anyone about her capture.

Not only did she convince him to never tell anyone, but she also convinced him to make it look like Tail's security system had failed and was dysfunctional. When Chris told Tails this, the fox was baffled of how his calculations could fail.

"Yes I remember... but if you think about it, I escaped. Even if I do get caught, I could always use my charms to get away... don't you agree?" asked Rouge. Chris shook his head, realizing that it was impossible to convince her about the risks she was taking.

"Let's just add it to the collection and get some sleep..." Chris said, followed by a yawn. The two then exited the room and proceeded to another.

It seemed that Rouge was now using Chris's mansion as sort of a secret base: a place to go where she could store her treasure after her nightly robberies. She also used it as a place to take shelter and eat after a long day. Despite being a jewel thief, she wasn't the kind to sell these jewels for money; instead she'd keep them as trophies to admire. But because of Chris's wealth, he was able to provide for her so she wouldn't have to worry about money, so she had access to many luxuries such as fine dining, a big fancy Jacuzzi, a limo to ride into town, etc. She was mooching off Chris like a parasite... however, Chris didn't seem to mind... he rather enjoyed having some company over.

Sure he had others to hang out with such as Sonic, Amy, etc... But they were all busy in their own lives and he didn't want to interfere, epically since he knew how annoyingly clingy he was in the past, so he wanted to give them (Especially Sonic) some space. Plus, despite being a young boy again, he still had an adults mind and found Rouge to be a rather nice sight to see every day, even in the morning when she wasn't wearing any make up and her hair was messy.

The two even developed some sort of friendship since then. Even though Rouge didn't think much of Chris, she had come to respect how mature, considerate, and providing he was, and Chris seemed to think a lot more of Rouge as a good friend who'd he could trust, and sometimes even pictured her as his girlfriend or wife before shaking the awkward images out of his head.

They went down to the basement to the very same vault that Rouge tried to steal from, only a few changes had been added to it. Originally, Only Chris was allowed to open it with a retinal scan, but he had since reprogrammed it so Rouge could open it as well. The room within the vault had also been changed. It had been made much bigger so more could be stored, and everything had been redone so it looked more like a fancy treasure room; like one found in a story book.

There were golden statues with arms extended so that jewelry could be put in their hands for display, and holes in the walls so certain gems could be placed inside and they can glitter for decoration. Some of the jewelry was in big piles so Rouge can dive in like a pile of autumn leaves.

She put the smaller crystals in a pile, but there was one in particular that she put in under a protective glass container for her to admire. This one particular diamond that was the prettiest of all of the ones she acquired that night; it was a purple diamond with a transparent body containing a pitch black center which appeared to have little stars in it which made it look like this diamond had a night sky inside. This was the main stone that Rouge favored at the moment. Her eyes lit up as she looked at it, adoring it like a newborn child. She was even talking to it, going on about how beautiful it was and making poetic metaphors about its color and luster. Chris could never understand why she was so obsessed with these gems, but he stopped thinking about it. As long as she's happy, that's all that would matter to him.

"Hey Rouge... listen, I've been meaning to give you this" He said. Rouge didn't seem to be paying attention. He took out a small fancy suit case filled with various items which looked like they could be used for breaking out certain areas. Rouge then looked back and finally noticed.

"What's all this?" she said.

"It's just a few things I made in my spare time to help you with your nightly jewel harvests... see? I made you a special hologram generator to create decoys, smoke bombs, a voice change-"

"I thought you said you didn't like me going out and stealing. Why are you suddenly helping me?" She interrupted. She then crossed her arms and turned her cheek slightly while still looking to his direction with a smug smirk on her face.

"Well... I don't like you stealing, but these are meant for escaping just in case something goes wrong… I don't want you to get caught or to get hurt. I can't stop you from doing what you like, but all I ask is that you come home safe..." He explained. She smiled sweetly and walked up to him.

"Why how sweet of you...I guess I could use some of these new toys...who knows, they just might come in handy" She said, followed by planting a kiss on his cheek. Chris blushed heavily as she picked up the case filled with gadgets and started walking out of the chamber.

"Good night my shining star... I'll continue to gaze upon you tomorrow..." She said. Chris wondered who she said that too... the gem, or him...nah; it had to be the gem.

He then secretly said the same exact thing to her in his mind, still blushing. He then got out of the vault with her and closed it up. Chris slept comfortably in his own room that night knowing his friend had come back safe and sound.

Rouge went to sleep that night in her own room smiling because she realized she hit the jackpot… not because of the jewels and not because of all the money she had access to…

But because now, she had someone who truly cared for her and even loved her too…

The end


End file.
